NYC 2014 Day #7

We had to get everyone up and ready to check out of the hotel.  20 rooms had to shove their luggage into OUR room so they could all be checked out (this made Jackie hurry quickly in the shower-- no one likes a high school kid barging in on your toilet time...)We still had places to go to though-- it was a beautiful day so we started off at TOP OF THE ROC (my personal favorite sky scraper in Manhattan)-- we were one of the first groups up there so it was pretty empty (and already really hot).
After we enjoyed the view, we were on a mission.
Jackie is not a fan of Chinatown-- she's gotten us kicked out of a few places because of her bargaining skills (learned on her mission in Madagascar- unless the wilds of Troutdale Oregon prepared her to knock prices down on purses...), but, with our friend Kelly Riding in tow, we were off to get Jackie a "designer" purse/bag.
We poked around a few places to get an idea on prices when a man walked up to us and said to follow him for purses.  Off we went (with Jackie leaving bread crumbs to find our way back to the subway-- which wouldn't matter if we were being sold into white slavery) when we were handed off to a girl that gave us a paper with pictures of purses on it.  That was not good enough for Jackie-- so the man came back and escorted us into a smoke filled room-- with a secret back door (with a magnet on it).  There was no turning back now.  Either Jackie bought a purse or we were all going to die.  Until a nice family came in and joined us looking at the ceiling to floor display of purses.  The best part was when Kelly was looking at a bag and asked if it was a Michael Kors (it had a different symbol on it) and the guy said, "You want a Michael Kors?" and popped the label off and replaced it with a Michael Kors label right in front of us. Fine, quality craftsmanship.
Jackie finally decided on a great, wine colored bag that all repeatedly told her was not too fancy for her.  We paid what I thought was a fair price and we went off to find Kelly DeHaan a fedora.  Which we did.
It was back to the hotel where we loaded up on our 2 buses (sorry 2nd bus that it took you so long to get to JFK) and off we went.
While waiting for our JetBlue flight, we entertained everyone around us while Kelly DeHaan led us in a clapping game that made Jackie mad when she would lose.  Then, our flight was delayed by 3 hours coming home so we all got home at 2:00am instead of 11:00pm-- but, everyone made it (barely... we had a parent go through security at JFK that forgot he had an ammunition clip from Cabela's in his luggage-- it made it through SLC just fine-- however, they were not amused at JFK and he (and his son) were detained for quite a long time in a back room somewhere by security...but even they made it onto the plane)-- and we were home!  Good to see you NYC 2014!  We'll see you with another huge group in 2016!